Building the House

Per Helsie's suggestion here are a few pictures and a bit of the story about when we built our house.

From left to right - me, Marsha, Phillip. Our construction crew varied. Phillip helped us a lot and he's in most of these pictures because he owned a camera. The pictures were taken on the days my niece also helped. She was the photographer. We were very proud of this wall. Those are 2x8 studs and the wall was heavy. We thought it might just topple over the side as we stood it upright.

My Daddy-in-law (Noble) came by every few days to see how we were doing. At this point he ask what I was going to cut the rafters on. I replied a 12/12. He said it looks like they'll miss by five feet. I was worried. But I was hoping that after Pythagoras being right for two thousand years, I was not about to prove him wrong. When the day came to cut the rafters and put them up, Noble said he would help. He wasn't a helper. He was the main guy. When we slid the first two rafters up and into place there was a gap you could slide your hand through. I was sick. Noble said, "aw, they are cut right. As long as they are, there's that much bow in the timber." As I've said before, he was a big man. He grabbed one of the rafters in each hand, pulled them together and said, "NAIL!"

Phillip and me putting sheathing on the back wall.

Marsha and me putting on the shingles. The roof was steeper than it looks in the picture. The toe board was the only thing keeping us from sliding off.

Here I had put some of the windows in. My work was willy nilly sometimes...

It is sheathed in 1/2 inch plywood with 3/4 inch styrofoam on top of that. I put tar paper on top of that and we lived in it for a few years before the vinyl siding was added.

I believe this was taken in the Summer not long before we moved in. It was a shell. We wanted to get into it before our son started school.

Marsha, me and Jay in our living room.

View of the second floor and a bit of the third floor from the bar area in the kitchen. As you can see it is still unfinished but Marsha seems okay with that.

This was taken several years later. I think the house was finished at this point.

Marsha and me. I think this was taken about the same time as the one with us in the kitchen. The paintings behind us are a couple I did during the time I fancied myself an artist.

I did get Marsha's okay to post the pictures with her in them. She said it was fine as long as people knew she was no longer available for contract work.

Per Phillip's suggestion in comments. I think I took this picture last Winter.

14 comments:

That's amazing! My dad has always wanted to build his own cabin. Being a draftsman he went so far as to draw up multiple plans for his dream cabin. It's great that you took photos of this endeavor. Much like the wife and I recording our child's first cries when he was born, these are a record that's always fun to revisit. Thanks for sharing these.

Ah, I'm so glad you put this up. What an achievement!!! It looks delightful set there in the woods, it's a pity your setting has been spoilt a bit these days. That roof was soooo steep, I think Marsha was very brave up there putting the shingles on. You haven't mentioned her before, are you still together ?( sorry if I'm being nosy. you don't have to answer that !!)

Thank you Helsie for the suggestion. I enjoyed doing this. Yes, Marsha was very brave. We were married for 22 years. She is a wonderful woman and is still my best friend. You were not being nosey at all. With the pictures of us together, it begs the question.

I think it took two years from the time we began building. I only wanted to give up once and that was even before the foundation was poured. We needed a temporary power pole. The power company said it had to be a treated post, 20 feet long and buried 4 feet in the ground. It was monstrously heavy. I attached a fuse box to it and foolishly tried to stand it up myself with just brute strength. Of course it fell. And it damaged the box. I was hot, tired and sick at heart. I told Marsha I couldn't build the house; I couldn't even get a temporary power pole into the ground. She said, "okay but where is the shovel?" When I asked why, she said, "I'm staying. Maybe there is something I can do."

We figured out how to put the pole up.

It's challenging but really nice living in the woods. Most often I look out the window and see deer but I've see hawks occasionally and at least one wild turkey.

Aw Phillip, you were there and helped us so much! I'm hoping you and Michael don't decide to build at Mountain Star because I still owe you lots of payback! Just kidding! Of course I will support whatever y'all decide to do.

The shorts? What about my poodle head? I really hated to post those pictures of me but it is what it is.

As someone who's very handy, but not with houses (more with cars, gardening, simple house repairs, etc) I was blown away by this. When I complete a big car project, I always feel so much satisfaction when I sit in my car for the first time. I can only imagine how that feels sitting in a house you've built. This is awesome.

Thanks guys. Yeah, some things in life give you a sense of satisfaction, of accomplishment. I made lots of mistakes on the house but I kept trying to do the best I could. It taught me a lesson about sticking with something even when the going gets rough.